I'm not sure if app.net will even begin to live up to the expectations of it's users and spectators, but maybe this is a discussion about how we would like to see services behave in the future. We can show people that respect for personal data, and an open API is greatly valued.
This is bigger than Dalton, it's about what we want the services we use to look like.
You can't have the conversation without money. Anything else is a land of wishful thinking, simply because it takes money to run the service.
I did not commit to app.net, but I am philosophically backing them. I think the meta-goal is right, even if this particular incantation is (or isn't) the right one.
I'm with you on the meta-goal being "right". And I didn't say to exclude money from the equation, Dalton and his team deserve to be paid for their work: once they actually solve a real pain point. Right now the pain looks a lot like fear & hope to me, two things that make people do silly, unsustainable things with their money.
This is bigger than Dalton, it's about what we want the services we use to look like.